[HOME MOVIE 1960s SPARAKIADS SOCIALIST MASS GAMES AT STRAHOV STADIUM, PRAGUE]

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1960s

Description: Dating to the 1960s, this home movie shows some family scenes, as well as views of a mass games or synchronized display at the Strahov Stadium in Prague, Czechoslovakia. It begins with images of the mass games, which probably occurred in the mid-1960s. (Other films from this same cameraman were shot during the time that Antonín Josef Novotný was in power as President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968.) Every 5 years from 1955 to 1985, Strahov Stadium hosted a gigantic communist mass known as the Spartakiads, gathering hundreds of thousands of gymnasts and millions of spectators. The Strahov was justly famous for its size, which at its height could support 280,000 spectators, including seating for 96,000, making it (for its time) the largest stadium ever constructed. Performances usually featured several hundred gymnasts making various complex formations and exercising identically, while accompanied by traditional folk music. The mostly highly popular shows, were those of young, well-trained recruits who wore only boxer shorts during the display or women dancing in miniskirts. The groups of gymnasts (unlike the soldiers who were ordered to practice and participate) were put together from local Sokol Athletic Association members who regularly trained for the show throughout the year. The ambiguous name of the performance, Spartakiáda, referred to the former power and strength of the slaves who rose under the leadership of Spartacus. Note: at :30 the Petřín Lookout Tower is visible in the film. Starting at 1:49, family footage is shown, consisting of a young boy of about 3-4 years old in the garden with a man who might be his grandfather.

Complete Record: Dating to the 1960s, this home movie shows some family scenes, as well as views of a mass games or synchronized display at the Strahov Stadium in Prague, Czechoslovakia. It begins with images of the mass games, which probably occurred in the mid-1960s. (Other films from this same cameraman were shot during the time that Antonín Josef Novotný was in power as President of Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1968.) Every 5 years from 1955 to 1985, Strahov Stadium hosted a gigantic communist mass known as the Spartakiads, gathering hundreds of thousands of gymnasts and millions of spectators. The Strahov was justly famous for its size, which at its height could support 280,000 spectators, including seating for 96,000, making it (for its time) the largest stadium ever constructed. Performances usually featured several hundred gymnasts making various complex formations and exercising identically, while accompanied by traditional folk music. The mostly highly popular shows, were those of young, well-trained recruits who wore only boxer shorts during the display or women dancing in miniskirts. The groups of gymnasts (unlike the soldiers who were ordered to practice and participate) were put together from local Sokol Athletic Association members who regularly trained for the show throughout the year. The ambiguous name of the performance, Spartakiáda, referred to the former power and strength of the slaves who rose under the leadership of Spartacus. Note: at :30 the Petřín Lookout Tower is visible in the film. Starting at 1:49, family footage is shown, consisting of a young boy of about 3-4 years old in the garden with a man who might be his grandfather.